McAfee unveils new strategy

The company marked the strategic declaration with the announcement that it will purchase Onigma Ltd. for $20 million in order to fully thresh out the link between security and compliance.

The privately held Onigma creates data protection solutions that monitor, report and prevent confidential data from leaving the enterprise.

McAfee hopes to serve customers and potential customers by better tying together its risk management and security offerings with its compliance offerings with this new strategy, said Michelle Cobb, group product marketing manager for the company.

"We have been talking to a lot of customers about our security risk management approach and getting their feedback on our strategy," she said. "In a conversation with a financial services customer, their comment was ‘I have to do compliance any way, so if you have the aility to link it with the protection I already have in place, you have yourself a winner."

Over the last several months McAfee has been on a buying binge in anticipation of the strategic positioning announced this week. Last April the company bought SiteAdvisor to help its customer manage risks associated with malicious websites. In June it picked up more robust risk management technology with the purchase of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Preventsys. Most significant, however, was the announcement this month that the company plans to purchase Citadel Security Software for $60 million. Citadel, which creates automated compliance solutions, will help accentuate McAfee's existing assets in the ePolicy Orchestrator line.

"While that acquisition hasn't closed, we do have a strong record of integration of new acquisitions and plan to do the same with Citadel," Cobb said.

Combined with the pick-up of Onigma, McAfee is hopeful that it can provide a more efficient means for businesses to optimize their risk management and compliance spend.

"It gives the people at the CIO level greater return on the investments they've already made, which they love when they speak to their board about the value of their security investments," Cobb said.

mcafeenewsecuritystrategyunveils